William M. Kunstler: The Most Hated Lawyer in America

by David J Langum

Overview

“A vivid, thoughtfully enthusiastic [biography] of the radical lawyer who defended such diverse clients as the Chicago Seven . . . John Gotti” (Kirkus).

Throughout his career, legendary civil rights lawyer William Kunstler has been alternately vilified as a publicity-seeking egoist and lauded as a fearless advocate. In this critical biography, David Langum demonstrates that Kunstler consistently embodied both of these qualities. He delighted in taking on fiercely political cases, often representing society's outcasts and pariahs free of charge and achieving remarkable courtroom results in seemingly hopeless cases.

In the late 60s and the 70s, Kunstler focused his attention on the Black Power and anti-war movements. He garnered public attention as defender of the Chicago Seven, and went on to represent such controversial figures as Leonard Peltier, the American Indian Movement leader charged with killing an FBI agent, and Jack Ruby, the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald. Later, Kunstler briefly represented Colin Ferguson, the Long Island Railroad mass murderer, outraging fans and detractors alike with his invocation of the infamous "black rage" defense.

What motivated Kunstler’s obsessive craving for media attention, his rhetorical flourishes in the courtroom and his instinctive and relentless drive for action? How did Kunstler migrate from a comfortable middle-class background to a life as a staunchly rebellious figure in social and legal history? David Langum’s portrait gives depth to the already notorious breadth of William Kunstler’s life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814738009
Publisher:	New York University Press
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	483
Sales rank:	742,736
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Author of several books and recipient of the J.S. Holliday award, the James Willard Hurst Prize and the Caroline Bancroft Prize, David J. Langum is currently a Professor of Law at Samford University.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
1	Introductory Images	1
2	Family and Early Years	18
3	Getting Started in the Law	36
4	The Shock of the South	56
5	Black Power Advocate	77
6	Circus in Chicago	100
7	Directions outside the Courtroom	129
8	Radical Lawyers in Modern America	153
9	Representing the Attica Prisoners	187
10	Private Life and Practice in the 1970s	216
11	Indian Defenses	239
12	The 1980s and a More Diverse Practice	259
13	The Scapegoat and the Killer Cops	286
14	A Return to the Limelight	309
15	Kunstler in His Final Years	333
	Notes	359
	Index	443
	About the Author	452

Editorial Reviews

Cumberland Law School professor Langum's spectacular and thoughtful biography of radical lawyer William Kunstler is distinguished by an even-handed presentation and deep research, which includes interviews with the late attorney's family, his ex-wife, judges, and attorneys. Langum traces Kunstler's affinity for society's outcasts and malcontents to his civil rights work in 1960s Mississippi. While praising Kunstler for his dedication to the cause of individual rights, the author debunks his claims that he never received fees for civil rights cases and points to his habit of stretching the truth in recounting his exploits. Organized chronologically, the book takes the reader inside Kunstler's famous cases, such as the Chicago Seven trial in 1968, the Attica prison riot in 1971, the Wounded Knee trial in 1975, and the World Trade Center bombing case. In sum, Langum opens a fascinating window on four decades of legal firestorms and the lawyer who stood close to the flames.--Harry Charles, Attorney at Law, St. Louis Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In William M. Kunstler:The Most Hated Lawyer in America, Langum, who teaches law at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala., describes the tactics Kunstler offered to the Chicago Seven, the American Indian Movement, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jack Ruby, and paints a large, sympathetic portrait of a keen and angry man who believed there was no higher honor than to stand in righteous contempt of court.
—The New York Times Book Review

Ford Burkhart

In a vivid, thoughtfully enthusiastic critique, Langum (Law/Samford Univ.; Crossing the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act, 1994) outlines the life, loves, and legal struggles of the radical lawyer who defended such diverse clients as the Chicago Seven, the Attica prison insurgents, Jack Ruby, and John Gotti. Langum, a libertarian though not a radical, admires Kunstler for "his willingness to do battle against the government" at a time when the author perceives an increasing threat to individual liberty from the growing power of the federal government. However, Kunstler emerges here as a protean figure whose personality and legal philosophy defy easy classification. As Langum shows, commencing with his representation of members of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, Kunstler identified with the New Left and indeed often represented political radicals. Also, Kunstler would frequently politicize the causes of his indigent and minority clients, articulating ideological legal defenses intended more to expose the hollowness of the judicial system and to point up societal issues like racism than to obtain acquittal for his clients. Still, as Langum shows, Kunstler carried on a conventional law practice for many years and represented many nonideological clients, including mob figures, and despite his radical contempt for judges, colleagues, and the conventions of the bar and bench, usually conducted himself in the courtroom with exemplary professionalism and decorum. Langum sketches Kunstler's complex, appealing personality and details his love of writing, his two marriages, and his womanizing habits. Langum also analyzes several of Kunstler's important trials anddescribes his sometimes off-the-cuff trial preparation and technique, his prodigious work ethic, and the effect of his affable personality and outsized ego on clients, judges, and adversaries. While conceding that Kunstler was no saint, Langum concludes that, to combat the growing despotism of the federal government, "thousands of Kunstlers are needed." An absorbing, reflective narrative of the life and crusades of America's quintessential "people's lawyer." (16 photos)

Kirkus Reviews

"Probative and insightful . . . Langum goes beyond the conventional reading of Kunstler to uncover a man who often embellished his experiences to get at deeper truths about American society."

Booklist

"Probative and insightful . . . Langum goes beyond the conventional reading of Kunstler to uncover a man who often embellished his experiences to get at deeper truths about American society."

Booklist

"Langum paints a large, sympathetic portrait of a keen and angry man."

New York Times

"Langum opens a fascinating window on four decades of legal firestorms and the lawyer who stood close to the flames."

- Library Journal

"Langum paints a large, sympathetic portrait of a keen and angry man."

- New York Times

"A vivid biography."

- Publishers Weekly

"Probative and insightful . . . Langum goes beyond the conventional reading of Kunstler to uncover a man who often embellished his experiences to get at deeper truths about American society."

- Booklist

"A thoughtfully enthusiastic critique, Langum outlines the life, loves, and legal struggles of the radical lawyer who defended such diverse clients as the Chicago Seven, the Attica prison insurgents, Jack Ruby, and John Gotti."

- Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher